Obama, Romney and Afghanistan math

Mitt Romney didn’t even mention Afghanistan in his speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. President Obama, on the other hand, liberally honored the service of U.S. troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

Michelle Obama also mentioned U.S. troops in Afghanistan. As she extolled “the best of the American spirit,” Mrs. O said:

I’ve seen it in people who become heroes at a moment’s notice, diving into harm’s way to save others…flying across the country to put out a fire…driving for hours to bail out a flooded town.

And I’ve seen it in our men and women in uniform and our proud military families…in wounded warriors who tell me they’re not just going to walk again, they’re going to run, and they’re going to run marathons…in the young man blinded by a bomb in Afghanistan who said, simply, “…I’d give my eyes 100 times again to have the chance to do what I have done and what I can still do.”

The president has announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by 2014, even as he was implementing a troop surge. Many critics predicted, and I fear, that an announced and premature withdrawal date would embolden the Taliban and other pro-al Qaeda forces that want NATO troops out of Afghanistan. They know that U.S. troops are going to leave, and no doubt figure that terrorist acts could hasten the Obama withdrawal.

Now it could be that the anti-NATO forces would have engaged in these attacks with or without a 2014 withdrawal announcement. The question here is: If Americans believe that we’ve lost in Afghanistan, and that there is no way to win it, how supportive will the public be as “green on blue” attacks continue?